226 Northern Expeditions. 
prevailed among the officers and_ every part of the ship’s com- 
pany, and all were in perfect health. ; oe 
The second dispatches of the Ist of August are the last which 
in all probability will be received this year, as our ships were go- 
ing beyond the track of all the trading and fishing vessels, which, 
till then had accompanied their course. Strange as it may ap- 
pear, the approach of, winter, which begins very early in those, 
high latitudes, seems to have increased, instead of shutting out 
every hope of success. Ina Nas letter from Captain Ross, 
in lat. 75° 48’ N. long. 61° 30’ W. ‘he says, “I have but a few 
moments to tell you, that we have now every prospect of success, 
the ice is clearing away fast, and the wind is at N.E. Our va-. 
riation observed on the ice, 88:13.’ We have killed a whale, 
and laid in a stock of blubber for our winter fuel.”—The letters, 
received from other persons, under his command, are of the same. 
date, and equally promising. They state, that the ice was 
clearing away, and that their prospect of success was improving. 
The most extraordinary phenomenon of the variation of the 
compass had gone on increasing ;—it was 88, 13. on the ice-— 
we say on the ice, for on board ship, owing to some peculiar in-- 
fluence not yet ascertained, it was much more. The former 
letters, of which we have already given extracts, mention, that 
on board ship the variation was at one time 95 degrees, that is, 
the needle pointed, instead of north, to the southward of west. 
This difference between the real variation and an apparent vari- 
ation on board ship was first observed by Captain Flinders, but 
it was supposed to be an accidental peculiarity in his ship: it is 
now clear that it belongs to all ships, and varies in all, and there 
would be little doubt that it should be attributed to the influence 
of the iron about the vessel, except for a curious fact which we. 
understand. has been ascertained; namely, that the compasses 
called insulated compasses, which are placed in boxes of iron, 
and which are uninfluenced by external.iron, when brought near 
to them, are affected by the ship variation in the same degree as. 
- the common compass.—This, which is now called the deviation, 
has been found to be much greater as the experiments go north- 
ward. This is accounted for from the circumstance of the dip. 
of the needle diminishing what is usually called its polarity, and 
allowing it, therefore, to be more easily affected by the local in- 
fluence of the ship. 
Such is the substance of the official accounts as far as we have 
been able to learn. There is an abundance of private letters to 
the friends and relations of those who have embarked in this. 
most important enterprise. The following are. extracts from 
some of the most interesting, ; 
“ His 
